# SMS for developers Send codes and updates. Receive replies. Build SMS into your app with Bird’s API. [Get started](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Fsms%2Fonboarding) [Contact Sales](/demo?product=sms) [Read customer stories](/customers) [Explore Enterprise](/enterprise) - [Airwallex](/customers/airwallex) - [Glovo](/customers/glovo) - [Zillow](/customers/zillow) - Uber - [Binance](/customers/binance) - Adobe - Meta - PayPal - Pinterest - Square - [Al Jazeera](/customers/aljazeera) - [Aramex](/customers/aramex) - [Bazaar Technologies](/customers/bazaar) - [ComparaOnline](/customers/compara) - [Emma](/customers/emma) ## From prompt to delivered. Send an SMS from your app or agent. Follow the carrier receipt. Full read and write access through MCP and CLI. **MCP**: `Bird MCP` ```json https://mcp.bird.com ``` United States Long codeToll-freeBrand name +1 (202) 555-0188 Dedicated number Replies Send and receive Registration 10DLC Registration required Register your brand and campaign, then link your number. ### Start with the right sender. Choose an identity for the destination. See which registrations you need and which numbers can receive replies. [Explore SMS senders](/sms-api/features/numbers) Message body Your order is on its way. We' ll deliver tomorrow between 10:00 and 12:00. Reply CHANGE if you need another time. Smart encoding 1 segment GSM-7 One apostrophe. One fewer segment. ### Make every character count. One curly apostrophe adds a billable segment here. Opt in to smart encoding to bring it back to one. [Explore smart encoding](/docs/guides/sms/smart-encoding) ## Turn incoming texts into useful replies. Receive texts on an eligible number. Reply from your app, or connect the steps in a Bird automation. Acknowledge an incoming SMS Automations Published One message. Every step connected. - 01 Message received “Is my order ready?” Bird event Received - 02 Recognize sender Match by phone number List contacts → Branch Waiting - 03 Send a reply Personal acknowledgement Set values → Send SMS Waiting - 04 Confirm delivery Wait for the SMS receipt Wait for event → Exit WaitingOther paths No match, failures & timeout No contact found Continue with a generic greeting. Lookup failed or multiple matches Exit and record the reason. Send failed Classify the failure. No receipt within 10 minutes Record delivery as unconfirmed. Incoming SMS Is my order ready to collect? Received [Incoming SMS events](/docs/guides/sms/events#the-event-envelope) [Explore Automations](/docs/guides/automations) Illustrative SMS reply workflow. Send acceptance is followed by a carrier delivery receipt, not a read receipt. No messages are sent from this page. ## Before you ship. After you send. Preview requests, follow delivery, and fix errors with clear feedback. CLI dry run ``` bird sms send \ --from +15557654321 \ --to +14155550100 \ --text 'Your verification code is 123456.' \ --category authentication \ --dry-run ``` SMS · Request preview Preview request ### Preview before you send. Inspect the CLI request before it reaches the API. [Explore CLI dry runs](/docs/ai/cli-for-agents) `POST /webhooks/bird` Signed SMS delivered Its signed event is ready for your endpoint. `sms.delivered`14:32:04 · 128 ms Queued `sms.received`14:32:01 · 38 ms 200 Endpoint response Replay event ### Know what happened. Follow delivery receipts and incoming texts through signed events. [Explore webhooks](/docs/guides/sms/events) `POST /v1/sms/messages` Idempotency-Key `welcome/customer_42` Original request 202 Accepted `id: sms_01ky7q3hckecgv6d7jpq865532`status: accepted Same request · retry 01 202 Accepted `id: sms_01ky7q3hckecgv6d7jpq865532`Idempotency-Replay: true Same request. Same result. Retry request ### Recover the response. Retry with the same key to recover the original response. [Explore idempotency](/docs/guides/idempotency) `POST /v1/sms/messages` `to` 422 `E01001 ValidationError` `to` must be a phone number in E.164 format. Include the country code, starting with +. `req_01ky7q4665emc9tw1pxkptaqwq`[Error reference](/docs/api/errors/E01001) Fix & retry ### Errors you can act on. The field, the reason, and the correction. Then try again. [Explore errors](/docs/guides/errors) Illustrative product states. No messages are sent from this page. ## Every message. A clearer picture. Follow delivery over time. See which carriers account for failures. SMS analytics ### Delivery over time 37,380 accepted 98.0% delivery rate Accepted Delivered Failed Sep 21 · UTC 74.1% of failures in this hour Northstar Mobile 206 of 278 · 14:00–15:00 UTC #### By carrier 14:00–15:00 UTC Carrier | Accepted | Failed | Share | Northstar Mobile | 1,529 | 206 | 74.1% | Metro Wireless | 834 | 50 | 18.0% | Connect | 417 | 22 | 7.9% | [Explore SMS analytics](/sms-api/features/analytics) ## Explore SMS. From your first sender to two-way conversations. Build SMS into your app. [SMS API Send text messages from your application and inspect the result.](#integrate)[Senders Choose a sending identity that works for the destination.](/sms-api/features/numbers)[Two-way SMS Receive customer texts and reply from your application.](/sms-api/features/two-way)[Templates Send reusable texts with variables and language selection.](/sms-api/features/marketing/templates)[Automations Receive a text, find the customer, and send the next reply.](/docs/guides/automations)[Global delivery Understand destination support before sending.](/sms-api/features/destinations)[Encoding & segments See how characters affect message length and segment count.](/docs/guides/sms/smart-encoding)[Consent & opt-outs Honor the choices customers make about your messages.](/sms-api/features/compliance/opt-out)[Webhooks React to incoming texts and delivery changes.](/docs/guides/sms/events)[Analytics Understand SMS delivery by carrier and destination.](/sms-api/features/analytics) ## Scale without losing control. Organize teams in workspaces, control API access, and trace changes through audit logs. Harbor Organization Workspaces Production Sandbox ### Delivery agent API key · Customer operations team Active Permissions Access Email Read & write SMS Read & write WhatsApp Read Read & write AL Alex Lee Admin Permissions updated ### Audit log Production API key updated Alex Lee · 09:42:18 UTC Workspace Production Resource Delivery agent WhatsApp Read Read & write Succeeded [Workspaces](/docs/guides/workspaces)[Team roles](/docs/guides/users-teams-roles)[API authentication](/docs/guides/authentication) [Explore Enterprise](/enterprise) Examples: [MCP](/it-it/sms-api.mcp.md) · [CLI](/it-it/sms-api.cli.md) · [TypeScript](/it-it/sms-api.ts.md) · [Python](/it-it/sms-api.py.md) · [Go](/it-it/sms-api.go.md) · [PHP](/it-it/sms-api.php.md) · [cURL](/it-it/sms-api.curl.md) ## Start with SMS. Build across channels with Bird. [Get started](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Fsms%2Fonboarding) · [Contact Sales](/demo?product=sms) [Email](/email-api) · [SMS](/sms-api) · [WhatsApp](/whatsapp-api) · [Apple Messages](/apple-messages-api) · [Voice](/voice-api) ## Related resources - [Sending your first SMS](/learn/sms/sending-your-first-sms) (video) - [Sending SMS](/docs/guides/sms/sending-sms) (docs) - [What does SMS mean?](/explained/sms/what-does-sms-mean) (answer) - [Build your first integration](/learn/paths/integration) (course) [Get an implementation brief](/learn/workspace?topic=sms)